Stevenage travelled west to take on Swindon in the Southern Counties League still searching for that elusive first win. Unfortunately we travelled without our captain, Theo, as well as Joey, and Jack Baldwin was still recovering from an injury but he stayed overnight with the squad and did the warm-up with us and it as nice to keep him involved. It meant we only had nine available players, five of whom were actually our U10's.

Despite the difference in size, I have to say that I thought we started really well. We were lively, we were responding well to some quite physical challenges and frequent shirt pulling, and competed well in the opening exchanges. That hard work was rewarded when after only four minutes Charlie did well pressurising a Swindon player to concede a corner, and from Vinnie's delivery it hit a defender on the line and went in the net for an own goal and 1-0 to Stevenage. Just a few2 minites later Kai went on a great run down our left-hand side and slotted home at the keepers near post for 2-0 and a dream start.

Both Vinnie and Jomi had attempts at goal that were deflected just wide or over the bar but we allowed the hosts back in the game when Jomi unnecessarily conceded a soft penalty which Swindon gratefully accepted and pulled the score back to 1-2. But within a minute we were down the other end and Idris did superbly well to close down a Swindon defender and the ball rocketed past the home keeper for 3-1.

On 23 minutes Idris then won a free-kick for yet another foul, and Jack Brazier took the kick and it sailed past everybody and into the net for 4-1! With just 7 mins to go before the break we needed to be a bit more clever to see out the half. Instead we allowed Swindon back into the game with some poor defending and they managed to pull two goals back before the whistle to leave the game poised at 3-4.

I felt that we had worked hard for twenty minutes, but some of the players were clearly not liking the physical battle (though others relished it) but this was understanable considering the age gap. We spoke about the importance of the next goal, but within 6 minutes Swindon were level when we failed to deal with a cross into the box (again) and it bounced around before a Swindon player gratefully tucked it away for 4-4. To be fair our heads could have dropped at that stage, but the young Stevenage side battled away and we came close to equalising when Idris hit the post.

But our determination was rewarded when Jack Brazier netted after a scramble following a corner to restore our lead and the score was now 5-4 to the visitors. From a free-kick, in our own half, the ball was played forward but we failed to hold on to possession an d they immediately broke and scored past Lucas to level the game yet again as it ebbed and flowed.

I felt that a few of our players went missing in the second half, not able to deal with the physical battle, and after another poorly defended cross, with the ball bouncing around in our penalty area, Swindon reacted quicker and now they were 6-5 in front and our heads dropped. I felt the game was swinging in Swindon's favour now.

But once again we showed tremendous spirit to stay in the game and when Vinnie went through he was wedged between two tackles and won a penalty with literally two minutes remaining. he dusted himself down, but unfortunately his effort rebounded to safety off of the post and before we knew it the ball was up the otehr end and Swindon scored a 7th with almost the last kick of a long game!

I felt for your young lads, they had battled so hard andplayed some good football at times. Lucas was very good, especially in the first half, staying high up the pitch and clearing danger and the back three (Woody, Jomi and Jack Baldwin) worked their socks off all morning. Vinnie and Jack Brazier also enjoyed the physical battle and put a lot of pressure on Swindon defenders as they battled hard for every ball. The opposition awarded Jack Brazier the 'man of the match' at the end of the game.

So a disappointing result, but lot's of positives to take from a good bonding experience away overnight for our youngsters. We go again.....

Stevenage & District U11 Team

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